Melbourne Toll Road advice?

What do I need to do about Toll roads (if anything at all?) when I'm over in Melbourne after the Alpine leg of the WSBK trip?

We don't have any toll roads in SA so I'm pretty naive to the requirements/billing etc other than a brief experience in Qld.
When I was in Brisbane in 2012 it was really easy to get on line and do a temporary registration, looking at the Vic site it's saying to do it that way there will be a extra $0-75 fee on top of the toll to "match my number plate" each time it passes through a toll point

I'll be staying at Northcote
I'm planning on heading over to check out the Essendon Hall of Fame at Windy Hill, 
Perhaps even go and have a look at True Value Solar Centre as well at Tullamarine, 
I'd like to go into the Queen Victoria Markets, 
and also to Bargain Bike Bits at Heidelberg West for a bit of a look.
Then meeting back up somewhere with barry, possibly mm, and anyone else that wants top do a ride through the Grampians on the Saturday/Sunday

Can I avoid toll roads easily to go where I want? (I'd rather pay a couple of dollars than be held up somewhere)

I'm not sure if all the states and territories are linked up. I have an account up here in Qld with my bike and car rego on it. No transponder needed. I just ride or drive through and it deducts it from my set up account. It also automatically tops the account back up out of my bank account. When I rode down last year I was sure that I had ridden on a Toll road but never heard anymore about it. So I did not worry.  They might be waiting for me at the border this time.  There are usually big signs that tell you, you are on a Toll road, and a number to call to arrange payment within a set time.

I set up a similar temporary one when I was in Brisbane, theirs was pretty easy, the more I read the Vic site the more confused I'm getting, it doesn't seem as cheap as up your way either with the "number plate recognition" fee added at every toll location for drivers without a e-tag

Chook wrote: $0-75 fee on top of the toll to "match my number plate" each time it passes through a toll point

That's only applies per trip not per toll gate.
So if you travel on city link going up to say Tullarmarine and travel through 6 toll gates on the way the computer will pick up where you got on and off and charge you one plate recognition fee. An hour later you get on back on do the same trip in reverse you get charged the plate fee again. I know its bullshit but its only for casual use. Users registered with citylink or east link do not pay a plate fee nor do they use a etag on a motorbike.

I think the same applies to interstate riders who have accounts with their own toll operators, but I can't be sure.

Chook you should be able to avoid the tollways and still get around, just might take longer

My NSW account works on all the Vic roads.

I'll PM some details to you Chook.

madmax wrote:

Chook wrote: $0-75 fee on top of the toll to "match my number plate" each time it passes through a toll point

I think the same applies to interstate riders who have accounts with their own toll operators, but I can't be sure.

I'm with Roam. The car has an ETag but both bikes are linked to the same account (no ETag) and no recognition fee is charged in any state.

#Tag wrote:

madmax wrote:

Chook wrote: $0-75 fee on top of the toll to "match my number plate" each time it passes through a toll point

I think the same applies to interstate riders who have accounts with their own toll operators, but I can't be sure.

I'm with Roam. The car has an ETag but both bikes are linked to the same account (no ETag) and no recognition fee is charged in any state.

Just looking at Roam they charge a 75c fee for visitors too. Also It looks like the Roam visitor pass is only for Sydney. You would need to open a Sydney based account, probably requiring a NSW address and rego. Same as Vic

With a Roam Visitor's e-PASS:

• you will be able to drive one vehicle on Sydney toll roads for a period up to 30 days (can be extended if required).
   
  
•  you will be charged the toll plus $0.75 Vehicle Matching Fee for each trip on a Sydney toll road.
   
  
•  there is a Start-Up Fee of $1.50 for each Visitor's e-PASS opened on this website (compared to $3.30 when opened elsewhere - you will save $1.80 if you open your Visitor's e-PASS on this website)
   
  
•  you will be asked to provide your credit card details (Visa or Mastercard accepted) - all Visitor's e-PASS charges will be charged to this credit card.
  

Chook just found out something else for you

Buy a Melbourne pass through citylink
https://www.citylink.com.au/buypass.asp#melbourne-pass
*Motorcycle trips do not incur vehicle matching fees on CityLink.
Covers CityLink and EastLink roads
No need for an e-TAG
Set up prior to travel or 3 days after travel
I guess this means you can do it after the week and only if you use the tollways

Maybe for a 6 pack of poison a Melb member could add your reg to their account if you're only using it infrequently 

Just drove the car & van across MLB - $16.10 for a 24 hr pass to pay for the privilege. 

Are there any tolls if you stay on the freeway & go directly to the island and not turn off the freeway ?

paul wrote:Are there any tolls if you stay on the freeway & go directly to the island and not turn off the freeway ?

Depends on where you start from. Tollway turns into freeway which then turns into highway to the island. You can easily avoid the tollways

If I was starting from Northcote I'd rather pay the Eastlink toll than go down Hoddle St to the M1 - but then again I am a yokel.

paul wrote:Are there any tolls if you stay on the freeway & go directly to the island and not turn off the freeway ?

I'm not going through Melbourne on the way to the Island, I'll be going via the Queenscliff-Sorento Ferry, I've got a bit of riding around Melbourne to do when I get back there from the Alpine leg

#Tag wrote:If I was starting from Northcote I'd rather pay the Eastlink toll than go down Hoddle St to the M1 - but then again I am a yokel.

That was what I was thinking, it's been over 23 years since I navigated Melbourne on a motorbike, I'm thinking the KISS theory is going to be safest and less stressfull

I live in NE Vic (Wodonga) I have an eastlink acct with all my vehicles attached for those rare times I hit a toll way, I just keep the minimum amount in the acct and it just deducts and auto tops up as required, cars have beeper, bikes don't get charged recognition fee and the acct is good Aus wide, never have to worry again.  

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Melbourne Pass account opened and paid for, $5-50 to open it, when it gets to $10 owing it'll charge my credit card, if it doesn't get to $10 it'll charge the balance when the account is closed just under a month later.

Chook wrote:Thanks everyone for your advice.

Melbourne Pass account opened and paid for, $5-50 to open it, when it gets to $10 owing it'll charge my credit card, if it doesn't get to $10 it'll charge the balance when the account is closed just under a month later.

Why don't you just keep it open, there's no ongoing fees?

madmax wrote:

Chook wrote:Thanks everyone for your advice.

Melbourne Pass account opened and paid for, $5-50 to open it, when it gets to $10 owing it'll charge my credit card, if it doesn't get to $10 it'll charge the balance when the account is closed just under a month later.

Why don't you just keep it open, there's no ongoing fees?

It is only valid for up to 30 days

Chook wrote:

madmax wrote:

Chook wrote:Thanks everyone for your advice.

Melbourne Pass account opened and paid for, $5-50 to open it, when it gets to $10 owing it'll charge my credit card, if it doesn't get to $10 it'll charge the balance when the account is closed just under a month later.

Why don't you just keep it open, there's no ongoing fees?

It is only valid for up to 30 days

Why not just open a normal account? Or is because you need a Vic address?

That was relatively painless, received my final account at the start of the month, total debited from my final account was $5-75, with the initial  $5-50 charged at when I opened it a total of $11-25, compared to fighting the regular snail trail roads and having bugger all idea where I was going it was worth every cent.

One fee I didn't expect was a vehicle matching fee as the pass said motorcycles are exempt, turns out the are on city link, east link charged me $0.28 matching fee each time I was on their roads, it is only one fee per total trip though, not every check point so 2 of them isn't enough to whinge about for the time saved, especially the day I came back into Melbourne and went through the Melba Tunnels

My bikes are registered with east link and I'm sure I don't get that fee and no fee on citylink. You're right it's not worth a call but it's interesting.

Went over my bill as well, no "vehicle matching" fees applied on any road.

however I think I might have out-smarted myself carrying the spare car dongle, looks like it picked that up as well as the bike. As the bike is on the first dongles tag account and I was carrying the spare 2nd dongle there were a couple of hits on both tags at the same time /same piece of road - might need to get back to them on this if it's not too late.

barry_mcki wrote:Went over my bill as well, no "vehicle matching" fees applied on any road.

however I think I might have out-smarted myself carrying the spare car dongle, looks like it picked that up as well as the bike.  As the bike is on the first dongles tag account and I was carrying the spare 2nd dongle there were a couple of hits on both tags at the same time /same piece of road - might need to get back to them on this if it's not too late.

maybe they just want to charge you twice because they can't make up their mind whether it's a car or a bike